Integrated Control of Motion Actuators for Enhancing Path Following and Yaw Stability of Over-Actuated Autonomous Vehicles

Zhang, Wenliang; Drugge, Lars; Nybacka, Mikael; Jerrelind, Jenny · 2023 · DOAJ

DOI: 10.3390/en16124776

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

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Summary

This study addresses the challenge of ensuring safe autonomous vehicle (AV) operation in critical driving scenarios, such as obstacle avoidance, where conventional braking or steering interventions may fail to maintain trajectory tracking or stability. The research investigates how over-actuation—utilizing more actuators than degrees of freedom—can enhance path following and yaw stability. Specifically, it evaluates four motion actuator configurations: active front steering (S), active front steering combined with torque vectoring (ST), active front steering combined with active camber (SC), and an integrated system combining all three (STC). The motivation stems from the limitations of existing methods, which often rely on single-track models for reference generation or fail to compare the synergistic benefits of integrating torque vectoring and active camber. The methodology employs a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) framework to manage the vehicle dynamics. A double-track planar vehicle model is used, incorporating the Dugoff tyre model for longitudinal and lateral forces, with an additional linear camber effect model for the SC and STC configurations. The NMPC formulation explicitly considers constraints on yaw stability (yaw rate and sideslip angle) and physical actuator limits. Reference trajectories for yaw rate, sideslip angle, and path are generated concurrently using an optimization-based planner, rather than separately, to improve overall performance. The control problems are discretized using the direct collocation method and solved efficiently. The configurations are evaluated based on passing velocity, tracking accuracy, safety distance, and robustness to reference trajectory variations. The results demonstrate that the integrated STC configuration performs best among the four tested setups, offering superior path following and yaw stability. The standalone active front steering (S) configuration performs the worst. Notably, the SC configuration (steering plus active camber) is generally superior to the ST configuration (steering plus torque vectoring), indicating that active camber provides significant benefits for lateral force generation in these critical scenarios. The integrated control effectively leverages the additional degrees of freedom to maintain stability and track the desired path at higher velocities compared to less complex actuator setups. The significance of this work lies in its comprehensive comparison of over-actuation strategies for AV safety. It highlights the potential of integrating active camber with steering and torque vectoring to overcome the limitations of traditional control methods, particularly in safety-critical maneuvers. By using a concurrent planning and control approach within an NMPC framework, the study provides a robust method for enhancing vehicle dynamics control. These findings support the development of advanced active safety systems for electric and autonomous vehicles, suggesting that over-actuated platforms can significantly improve driving safety and performance in complex traffic environments.

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• adaptive driving beam